British quarterly economic growth slows down to 0.5 percent

The British economy grew by 0.5 percent in the three months ending in October, an economic institute reported Tuesday, a fall from the previous quarterly figure. The London-based National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) released estimates showing that British GDP grew by 0.5 percent from August to October, a fall on the July to September figure of 1 percent, released last month. Britain has been hit hard by the financial crisis and the subsequent economic turmoil, and has suffered two recessions since 2008. The economy is around 2.8 per cent smaller than before the onset of recession at the start of 2008. "The numbers are particularly volatile," Simon Kirby, a senior research fellow at NIESR, told Xinhua.. He added recent talk about 1 percent growth in the previous rolling quarterly figures (July-September) identified special events as the cause -- the Olympics and the bounce-back from the Diamond Jubilee holidays, and that underlying growth was weaker than that. Taking July out of these calculations means there is no Olympic boost to these figures, the income from Olympic ticket sales boosted the previous figures, resulting in a jolt which looks like GDP decline. The underlying economy is more resilient, said Kirby adding that "the British economy is continuing to grow, but on a relatively weak underlying basis. Growth yes, but recovery not yet." NIESR predicted the economy would contract slight this year, by 0.1 percent, before expanding by 1.1 per cent in 2013 and 1.7 per cent in 2014, returning GDP to its pre-recession level by the end of 2014. Inflation is expected to rise slightly to 2.7 percent in the last three months of 2012 and to fall to two per cent in 2013. Meanwhile, unemployment may reach 2.5 million people or 8 percent of the population.